Radiology

A Carroll County jury awarded $430,000 yesterday to a former Mount Airy woman whose treatment of breast cancer was negligently delayed by a misinterpretation of a mammogram in 1993.Lawyers for Wendy Jane Shullenbarger, 39, of Shepherdstown,W.Va., filed the civil malpractice lawsuit in 1996 against Advanced Radiology of Pikesville and Westminster Imaging, which operates at Crossroads Square shopping center as Med-Care Imaging Inc., court records show.Shullenbarger subsequently had breast surgery and underwent chemotherapy treatments, court records show.

Dr. Harry C. Knipp has been elected by the medical staff of Carroll County General Hospital for a second term as chief of staff.In his position, he serves as liaison between the medical staff and hospital, serves on the board of directors, oversees quality assurance for the medical staff, appoints committee chairmen and handles discipline within the staff.He has practiced radiology at Advanced Radiology's Carroll County offices since 1981 and is active in radiological organizations.He has a medical degree from the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

Dr. Nancy O'Neil Whitley, former professor of diagnostic radiology and oncology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and an internationally recognized authority on the use of computerized axial tomography, died of cancer May 16 at the Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. She was 66.Dr. Whitley moved to Baltimore in 1978, when her husband, Dr. Joseph Whitley, whom she married in 1959, was named chairman of diagnostic radiology at the University of Maryland Medical School. He died in 1989.

In early 1996 things were not going well for Diagnostic Health Imaging Systems, a Prince George's County radiology firm. Tax liens and court suits were piling up. Its balance sheet, state examiners would later conclude, did not look promising.But before the year was out, something remarkable happened.Key executives of DHIS became executives of a brand new company called PrimeHealth.Prime-Health's offices blossomed in a building owned by DHIS, and key assets of the radiology firm suddenly became the assets of Prime-Health.

An article in yesterday's Business Digest incorrectly stated the relationship among radiology groups involved in a merger.Community Radiology Associates of Rockville is merging its seven imaging centers into American Physician Partners Inc. of Dallas. American Physician Partners was formed in November by the merger of seven large radiology groups around the country, the biggest of which is Advanced Radiology of Baltimore.The Sun regrets the error.Pub Date: 1/29/98

The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions has filled out its leadership team, formally designating four more senior officials to aid the campus' medical czar, Dr. Edward Miller, in running the university's medical school and research hospital.Miller was placed in charge of the East Baltimore medical complex a year ago and has operated with an ad-hoc group of advisers who are aiding his drive to continue the center's push into the new world of managed care."Now it's time to get some permanency for these things," said Miller, whose formal title is chief executive officer of Johns Hopkins Medicine and dean of the Hopkins School of Medicine.

In Monday's Business section, the name of the publisher of a radiology software CD was spelled incorrectly. The correct name is Williams & Wilkins.The Sun regrets the error.Pub Date: 2/27/97

In Monday's Business section, the name of the publisher of a radiology software CD was spelled incorrectly. The correct name is Williams & Wilkins.The Sun regrets the error.It's been more than two years since Dr. Michael McDermott, at the time a young resident in the University of Maryland School of Medicine's radiology program, began tinkering around with storing and retrieving radiology images on computers.He was certain that computer CD-ROMS offered an opportunity for vast amounts of medical information to be stored and carried around easily.

Three large radiology practices and Johns Hopkins Imaging, the off-campus radiology group of Johns Hopkins Medicine, announced yesterday they are merging to form American Radiology Services Inc. -- a behemoth with more than 70 doctors, 25 outpatient locations, 13 hospital contracts and $40 million to $50 million in annual revenue.The managed care market has compelled mergers among all sorts of health providers, and the economic forces for consolidation are especially strong among radiologists because their equipment is so expensive.

A Johns Hopkins Hospital radiology student died yesterday morning when the car he was driving crashed into a tree in northern Baltimore County.Brandon M. Moore, 21, of the 2800 block of Troyer Road in Harford County was traveling west on Shepperd Road -- less than a mile from his home -- when his 1994 Honda Accord crossed the center line and hit a tree, Baltimore County police said.He was pronounced dead at the scene shortly after 4 a.m.Police said driver error and excessive speed were factors in the crash.